The conclusion to the long NBA Basketball season begins on May 31st with the start of the NBA Finals. It will be the not too unfamiliar sight of the Cleveland Cavaliers from the Eastern Conference taking on the Western Conference champions the Golden State Warriors. Why does all of this sound familiar? Well, it is because this will be the fourth season in a row that the NBA Finals have been contested between the two of them.
It just shows the power that they bold hold in the game and it is the Golden State Warriors who have come out on top overall in the last three seasons, taking two titles to the one by the Cavs. It is the Warriors who are heading back into the Finals as the 1/12 outright favourites* (Betting Odds taken at 4:59 a.m. on May 31st, 2018), which puts them as overwhelming favourites to walk off with the title again and at the same time, land a successful title defence. The Cavaliers are 15/2 underdogs* (Betting Odds taken at 4:59 a.m. on May 31st, 2018) to pull of the series win, which is the best of seven.
For the 2018 NBA Finals, it is the Warriors who will have home court advantage, which means that they play the first two games of the season at home and a deciding game would be in California.
NBA Finals 2018 Odds*
Golden State Warriors 1/12
Cleveland Cavaliers 15/2
* (Betting Odds taken from Betfair at 4:59 a.m. on May 31st, 2018)
Previous Finals Experience
The Golden State Warriors then are the reigning champions of the NBA and their success over the Cleveland Cavaliers last season gave them their fifth title. It was their ninth appearance in the NBA Finals and their 2015 success was their first since the 1975 season so they had been waiting a long time for that to happen. Last year’s finals was the fourth appearance for the Cavaliers who were looking for their second title after their success in 2016. That series win in 2016 was sandwiched between two of their three Finals losses with the other one happening in 2007.
Golden State Warriors
They are the red-hot favourites and their star man is Steph Curry. They did only finish second in the West Conference after putting up a 58-24 record for the season which wasn’t enough to beat the Houston Rockets to top spot. Their haul of 58 wins was their fifth-highest tally in their history. However, when it came to the postseason they proved themselves once again with a show of power and this season, grit. Part of the reason that they perhaps didn’t secure 60 wins or get to top the Western Conference was because their All-Stars, Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant, Draymond Green, and Klay Thompson for the season, all picked up injuries down the back stretch. In the play offs they made their way past San Antonio 4-1 in the first round.
It was by the same scoreline that they eased past New Orleans in the Conference Semi Finals before being pushed hard by Houston in the Conference Championships. It went down to a deciding game and the Golden State Warriors were trailing badly at half time. But they produced a stunning third quarter to get themselves back into the game and secured the series by winning the game 101-92 and Kevin Durant was top points scorer for them in the game. The Golden State Warriors are 6/4 odds at Betfair to win the series 4-1* (Betting Odds taken at 4:59 a.m. on May 31st, 2018) which was the margin that they won by last season.
Cleveland Cavaliers
They may be underdogs by they have LeBron James who is remarkably now in his eighth consecutive NBA Finals. During the regular season, the Cavs finished with a 50-32 record which was enough to give them the 4th seed in the Eastern Conference. That means that they have some work to do during the postseason. They needed a deciding game to edge out the Indiana Pacers in the first round of the play offs and then it was a much easier task for them in the semi finals as they swept Toronto 4-0. They went up against the Boston Celtics then in the Eastern Conference Finals.
There was another nail-biter of a series for the Cavs as they were taken to a deciding game. The series had stayed with home court advantage with Boston opening with two home wins in the series before a response by Cleveland back in Ohio to level the series. Given that game seven had the Celtics with home advantage it looked as if that was going to be enough to tip the balance and get Boston through. It wasn’t to be as Cleveland posted an 87-79 victory in that final game of the series, fighting back after losing the first quarter with LeBron James top scoring with 35 points.
Series Correct Score Betting Odds*
Golden State Warriors to win 4-1 – 6/4
Golden State Warriors to win 4-0 – 11/5
Golden State Warriors to win 4-2 – 9/2
Golden State Warriors to win 4-3 – 11/2
Cleveland Cavaliers 4-2 – 20/1
Cleveland Cavaliers 4-3 – 25/1
Cleveland Cavaliers 4-1 – 80/1
Cleveland Cavaliers 4-0 – 150/1
* (Betting Odds taken at 4:59 a.m. on May 31st, 2018)
NBA Finals MVP Odds*
Kevin Durant 4/6
Stephen Curry 2/1
LeBron James 7/1
Draymond Green 14/1
Klay Thompson 14/1
Kevin Love 175/1
Bar 250/1
* (Betting Odds taken at 4:59 a.m. on May 31st, 2018)
Predictions
The Cavs pretty much have the same lineup as they had in last season’s series defeat against the Golden State Warriors and things may not go differently for them here. They have lost one of their main support players to LeBron James with Kyrie Irving out and while James is still on top of his game at the age of 35 (not missing a game for them this season), but the squad around him may not be able to carry him to another title. It’s nowhere near as consistently good as that of the Warriors.
Golden State looked in danger of missing out on the Finals given the poor end to the regular season that they had because of injuries and they were down 2-3 in the Western Conference Finals as well because of it. But they knuckled down, notably in defence and when their backs were against the wall, notably in their Conference Finals decider, they pulled together and pulled through. Is their offence quite as good as its been in recent seasons?
Not really but they should still be fancied heavily to get the win. The third period could be crucial as, during their play off run, the Warriors outscored teams by 130 points in the third quarter of matches, and that goes up against twenty point advantage from the other three quarters combined. The Warriors certainly stepped it up defensively in the post season and if that is on point, then even with James, the Cavs are going to have a hard time. The Golden State Warriors to take the series 4-2 looks about right.
